SAN DIEGO — 12 daycare operators were arrested and charged with stealing more than $10 million from taxpayer-funded childcare subsidy programs, Colin M. McDonald, Assistant Attorney General for the Justice Department's Fraud Division announced Tuesday.

Each defendant is charged in a separate federal complaint in the Southern District of California. Prosecutors say the 12 cases are not connected to one another.

All of the defendants face wire fraud charges. Some are also charged with money laundering.

Prosecutors say the operators obtained California childcare licenses, registered with the agencies that administer state childcare subsidies, then filed attendance records claiming they had watched children on days the children were not there. In some cases, prosecutors say, providers billed for days they were not in the country.

One defendant left the United States on Jan. 1, 2024, and did not return until Jan. 30, prosecutors said, but submitted records for that month anyway.

The subsidies were paid out by Child Development Associates and the YMCA, which distribute government money that covers childcare for low-income working families. Individual defendants collected between $538,000 and $1.2 million, according to the department. The billing ran for months in some cases and years in others.

"Today is a bad day for home daycare fraud," U.S. Attorney Adam Gordon said. "These are the first charges alleging this type of fraud since the formation of the National Fraud Enforcement Division."

Assistant Attorney General Colin M. McDonald, who leads that division, said anyone "who steals from programs meant to support children will face swift and uncompromising accountability."

The defendants were arrested last week in a coordinated takedown, the department said.

The Justice Department listed a country of origin for each defendant: Syria, Afghanistan, Somalia, Sudan and Iraq.

Homeland Security Investigations, IRS Criminal Investigation and the Department of Health and Human Services Office of Inspector General worked the cases.

"By following the money, IRS Criminal Investigation uncovered patterns of deceit that revealed twelve ghost daycare operations billing for children who were never present," IRS-CI Chief Jarod Koopman said.

HSI Assistant Director Michael Krol said the programs "are intended to support children and working parents, not to enrich fraudsters." Robb R. Breeden, special agent in charge at HHS-OIG, said the alleged thefts "endanger support for some of our nation's most vulnerable children."